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ah, yes, the latest on my company 401K

On 7/26/10 8:28 PM, bpuharic wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:15:36 -0400, Harry
wrote:

On 7/26/10 8:07 PM, bpuharic wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:19:12 -0400, wrote:

oh brother...more hatred of the middle class. and the rich? how do
their children turn out?

well let's see...in the last 10 years the children of the poor and
middle class went to afghanistan to protect our country from attack

the children of the rich sucked 11 trillion dollars out of the economy
and destroyed the middle class

and he says the problem is with the poor and middle class

me? i'd rather spend a year with the kids in the USCG than a day with
a wall street manager

Jesus...Larry, the latest iteration of Slimeball Dan Krueger, DK, Bob,
et cetera, never ceases to amaze with his total lack of humanity. And
his assumption that low income folks have a problem with their work
ethic is just...stunning. It's no wonder these righties work so very
hard at concealing their identities...if they didn't, they'd be getting
their noses punched regularly.

the more you pin their asses to the wall, the more their hatred of the
middle class comes out.

canuck tells us how lazy we are...and how good and pure wall street
is.

now we got this idiot telling us the middle class is expendable 'cuz
they can always have babies...

Hatred for those in middle and lower income categories...

ah, yes, the latest on my company 401K

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:49:55 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

Medical insurance has been a huge loser for me. I suppose I will get
sick some day but so far I would have been a lot better off if I had
my premiums back and just paid my bills.

Because you can predict the future? The point of insurance is to have a
hedge against the future. All it takes is one catastrophic illness to
destroy your savings.

The problem then becomes "preexisting conditions" then doesn't it.
We vitrified insurance companies for not wanting to take on sick
people who avoided buying insurance until they were sick and now you
are explaining what that was a problem.

?? The new law eliminates the preexisting conditions bs (not immediately for
everyone, but eventually). How does that become a grabbag for insurance
companies? Why is it in the law if the lobbyists wrote the law?

Once someone has a chronic disease it is not really insurance anyway.
It is just a maintenance program. The same is true of drug coverage
for people who will be taking pills for the rest of their life. At
that point, the best we can hope for is a broker that can negotiate
the best price. I am not sure that will be the government. (home of
the $800 hammer and thousand dollar toilet seat)

It's generally considered a preventive measure so things don't get worse,
like a premature death. The gov't can't be any worse than the drug
companies, who inflate the prices. How about the $8 aspirin? There's an
accounting justification for that...

ah, yes, the latest on my company 401K

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:56:22 -0400, bpuharic wrote:

i was a hospice volunteer. you're whistling past the cemetery my
friend

I have seen that show several times. If I get that sick I am punching
out long before it goes that far.

You won't be able to. Don't you remember Terri Shiavo? BS brought to you by
rightwing nuts in Congress.

ah, yes, the latest on my company 401K

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:51:27 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:52:05 -0400, Harry ?
wrote:

Health insurers do not deliver a product the consumer needs or wants.
Health care is already out there...it exists. Health insurance adds an
unnecessary middle-man factor.

... and a huge government bureaucracy wouldn't?

The "huge gov't bureaucracy" has much lower overhead than private
companies.

... and a fraud rate that more than makes up for the difference. You
can't really believe the overhead rate for SS anyway since a
significant part of the "payables" accounting is done by the part B
provider.
The IRS is their accounts receivable department.

And, your alternative is to turn over the care of the elderly to corporate
America? Those lovely people like those at BP, who lied and continue to lie.
I think I'd rather have a bureaucrat and some federal agents on my side.

ah, yes, the latest on my company 401K

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:58:20 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:23:25 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

The guys who operate them don't need near as much skill as the worker
they replaced and the robot does a more consistent job.

Not necessarily. The person who now controls a whole production line
from
a
control room has to be highly skilled.

That is said by a person who doesn't understand how long it takes to
learn to be a machinist or even a good welder.
The computer operator can learn his job in a week. Most of the
processes are actually monitored by another computer. There are
usually a couple of techs around who have a bit of training but not as
much as you would suspect. These machines are like most of the
computer industry. It is cheaper to replace whole assemblies than to
fix them.
We called it "cut open the box" technology.

I don't think you know me well enough to make such a statement. There is
extensive training for many, many professions, including computer
"operator"
(sounds like you're not to familiar with those requirements).

I have spent more time in computer rooms that you have on the planet.

Yet, you claim that someone who is minimally trained can operate an assembly
line system? I don't think so.

so you tell me: how does the middle class spend money it does not
have?

You are starting to see why I fear for out future.
The idea that you can get employers to pay workers more when the
product cost can't go up is not going to happen.

Well, fear is the operative word. Product cost can go up if the quality
is
better and/or it has better features/functionality.

That has not been the trend. The American public does not appreciate
quality, nor demand service. In the late 80s, IBM and most other
industries started a "quality quest" with quality circles, Six Sigma
and ISO 9000. The holy grail was to emulate Sony.

Actually, that has been the trend, whatever that means. There are lots of
American made, high quality products that sell fine.

What would they be?

Without really thinking about it, how about planes? Plenty besides that.
I'll let you do the research.

That was quickly replaced with a philosophy of "market driven quality"
and the model became WalMart. We were all marched into a room, given a
bag of M&Ms and told to evaluate them. It turned out there were not
even the same number in each bag and there were defects in at least
half of them,. (true story) Everyone was still happy with the quality
and was not interested in paying more for better quality control.
The whole company was moving in that direction. We even got new hats
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/mdq.jpg

It's easy to id an anecdote and claim that is the general case, but that
doesn't make it so.

see below

The lesson was clear. The American public values a lower price more
than quality, service or even saving American jobs.
I ask you, do you go to Sam's/BJs/Costco? It is certainly not for the
service or even the quality. It is for the price.

Actually, I go to Costco because of the customer service. If something
breaks, they don't hassle you at all. The quality is pretty much the same
as
you would find elsewhere, especially for things like cameras/computers,
even
some clothing. Most people go there for the wholesale quantities.

OK so how many people do you think they employ per customer and do you
really think those people understand the products they sell?

Which has nothing to do with customer service in the case cited.

Maybe you are not old enough to remember stores that specialized in
various products and had people who actually knew a little more about
them but which aisle they are on.

I have a friend who owns a family fireplace insert store. They do just fine,
sell high quality products that are US made, and they service them
themselves.

Big box stores are great if they have what you want but they only
stock things they can get in bulk and that they have the best margin
on at a cheap price.

We were talking about customer service. I don't shop in Wal-Mart even though
they have great prices. I don't like their lack of customer service for one
thing.

ah, yes, the latest on my company 401K